Black July: Indira Gandhi, Gunawanse And The Left
By Rajan Hoole -October 8, 2013 |
Rajan Hoole
Sri Lanka’s Black July – Part 35
One piece of testimony came from IGP Rudra Rajasingham. When asked about the Left being accused of the July 1983 violence, he said that he was surprised when the accusation was made, adding that the Left was definitely not involved. This seemed a matter-of-fact statement made without any cal-culation. But when told that Ratnatunga and T.D.S.A. Dissanayaka had made him party to the accusation, he was disturbed and later even annoyed. Yet his silence all these years seems unaccountable if the President misquoted something that took place in his presence to which he was party.
The truth has a funny side to it, and tells us something about Jayewardene. It comes from placing the key elements of Ratnatunga’s testi- mony in a different perspective. An informant came to Ernest Perera on Wednesday night, the story goes, with information about the plot. The informant appeared to have had this informa- tion on Sunday (24th), but the reasons for the delay in communicating it are not comprehen- sible. (The informant reportedly put this down to Perera being at Kanatte till late on the 24th and there being a curfew on the 25th and 26th.) Rajasingham and Perera left the President at 9.00 PM on the 28th. Then according to Ratnatunga, Jayewardene summoned Ernest Perera to his private residence at 6.00 AM the following morn- ing and got him to dictate a statement to his pri- vate stenographer J.A. Paulasz.
Jayewardene then made photocopies of the statement and gave it to his service chiefs and later in the morning to the visiting Indian For- eign Minister, Mr. Rao. This statement was about the said leftist plot to overthrow the Government and was in print with the signa- ture of an official for the first time. Ratnatunga says: “IGP Rudra Rajasingham, although unaware of this new development, was however the least sur- prised.” Ratnatunga appears to be saying something that he does not wish to elaborate. Jayewardene could have asked Perera to record a statement when he and Rajasingham were with him the previous evening, which he did not. Did Rajasingham too learn about the leftist plot for the first time when the state- ment was handed over to him the following (29th) morning?
Certain truths stand out from this re- markable episode. There had been a wider constellation of forces of the extreme Right which the UNP had been trying to bring under its umbrella, that had lent their sup- port to the violence of July 1983. This has been suspected but not fully explored. Many of the links were informal and remained un- recorded. But there had been tell-tale signs for some time. Among them was the attempt to drive the Tamil students out of Peradeniya in May 1983 where the core organisers had strong UNP connections.
